U.S. Secretary of State James Baker held two rounds of what were described as constructive talks Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir.
But while the two leaders agreed, during an early morning talk at the Prime Minister’s Office, on the need to advance the prospects of regional peace through a “two-track approach,” they apparently did not discuss the thorny issue of whether Israel would be willing to make territorial concessions in exchange for diplomatic recognition by its Arab neighbors.
The issue may have come up when the two met again Tuesday evening, after a private dinner at the prime minister’s residence.
The secretary also met here Tuesday with 10 prominent Palestinians from the administered territories and East Jerusalem, who clearly had received a “green light” from Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yasir Arafat.
Although no breakthroughs were expected or achieved, the meeting was an unacknowledged gain for the PLO, which is still in the international doghouse for its support of Iraq’s Saddam Hussein in the recent Persian Gulf war.
Baker’s sessions with Shamir are recognized to be the critical part of his two-day visit to Israel, which followed meetings over the weekend with eight Arab foreign ministers in Saudi Arabia.
The secretary has been trying to push the idea that Middle East peace must be pursued on “two tracks” — between Israel and the Arab states, and between Israel and the Palestinians.
TALK OF CONCESSIONS LATER
Shamir’s media spokesman, Avi Pazner, said the prime minister had endorsed that approach and was gratified by the measure of accord he reached with Baker.
Pazner described their morning meeting as “good, friendly and constructive” and conducted in a “positive spirit.”
He said the prime minister agreed with Baker’s view that there is at present “an opportunity to do something” for regional peace.
The aide said Baker did not raise the land-for-peace formula, which President Bush endorsed last week as the only route to peace in the Middle East.
Yossi Ben-Aharon, director general of the Prime Minister’s Office, said later on Israel Radio that Israel wants direct talks with the Arab states “without preconditions.” If they materialize, “we would then grapple with the territorial dimensions,” he said.
“We do not, for our part, think the reference to withdrawal from territories in the U.N. resolutions necessarily means on all fronts or, as the Arabs contend, from all territories,” Ben-Aharon said.
Baker had a separate session Tuesday with Defense Minister Moshe Arens, who stressed it is necessary to curb local terror and unrest in the territories before productive talks can be held with the Palestinians.
Arens’ spokesman, Danny Naveh, clarified later that the minister was not setting preconditions but explaining that intifada violence is an obstacle to progress toward peace.
Naveh said Arens dwelt on the unresolved issue of Israeli soldiers believed to be held by extremist groups in Lebanon. Baker promised him and Shamir that the United States would redouble its efforts to secure their release.
DEMAND FOR RECOGNITION OF PLO
The Palestinian delegation met with Baker at the residence of the U.S. consul general in western Jerusalem, Philip Wilcox. The group presented an 11-point memorandum, demanding that United Nations resolutions on the Palestinian problem be implemented and that the United States recognize the PLO as the “sole representative of the Palestinians.”
The group was led by veteran Palestinian activist Faisal Husseini, who came with a clear mandate from Arafat. Other members of the delegation identified themselves as local proxies for the PLO.
The meeting was the first between Palestinians and an American secretary of state in many years.
Most observers agreed that it amounted to a resumption of the U.S. dialogue with the PLO, explicit denials by Baker notwithstanding.
The U.S. dialogue with the PLO began in December 1988 after Arafat recognized Israel’s right to exist and renounced terrorism as a political weapon.
It was suspended by Washington last June 20 because the PLO refused to denounce a commando raid on the Tel Aviv beach by one of its factions, the Palestine Liberation Front.
Despite an initial debate within the Palestinian community about whether or not to attend a meeting with Baker, the Palestinians, including the PLO mainstream led by Arafat, definitely wanted it.
The people who only a few weeks ago were cheering Saddam Hussein are now trying to reach a new understanding with the victors who defeated Hussein, observers here pointed out.
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